Foglight for Databases vs Toad for Oracle comparison

Foglight for Databases and Toad for Oracle are both solutions in the Database Development and Management category. Foglight for Databases is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while Toad for Oracle is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.3. Foglight for Databases holds a 3.9% mindshare in DDM, compared to Toad for Oracle’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Foglight for Databases users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Toad for Oracle users who would recommend it.

Foglight for Databases

Read 14 Foglight for Databases reviews

2,275 Views
2,230 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Toad for Oracle

Read 17 Toad for Oracle reviews

1,346 Views
1,319 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Foglight for Databases

Toad for Oracle

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Foglight for Databases and Toad for Oracle compete in the database management category. Foglight has an edge with its extensive monitoring capabilities and real-time issue diagnosis features, while Toad for Oracle is favored for its comprehensive feature set tailored to Oracle environments.

Features: Foglight for Databases provides extensive monitoring capabilities, real-time activity screens, and SQL Performance Investigator. It supports multiple database platforms including Oracle, SQL, MySQL, Db2, and MongoDB. Toad for Oracle offers features like code formulation, session management, and PL/SQL debugging. It is praised for its navigation efficiency and comprehensive toolset for Oracle database tasks.

Room for Improvement: Foglight for Databases users note challenges with alert management, the complexity of custom reporting and dashboards, and suggest improvements in root cause analysis. Toad for Oracle users point out performance issues, a need for better log file analysis, and query optimization, along with a call for a more intuitive user interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both products offer on-premises and cloud deployments. Toad for Oracle is praised for excellent technical support with speedy responses, whereas Foglight users sometimes experience delays in issue resolution. Premier Support from Quest is noted but recent feedback suggests some decline in responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Foglight for Databases is considered a worthwhile investment due to its monitoring and alerting capabilities, though additional costs for third-party integration licenses can be challenging. Toad for Oracle is seen as expensive but justified by the time and efficiency savings in Oracle environments. Licensing costs are commonly noted, with suggestions for more competitive pricing models.

To learn more, read our detailed Foglight for Databases vs. Toad for Oracle Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases vs. Toad for Oracle

February 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Foglight for Databases

Ranking in Database Development and Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Toad for Oracle

Ranking in Database Development and Management

7th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of Foglight for Databases is 3.9%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Toad for Oracle is 2.7%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Development and Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Foglight for Databases	3.9%
Toad for Oracle	2.7%
Other	93.4%

Database Development and Management

Featured Reviews

Stuart Dairiki

Senior IT Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Empowers efficient database monitoring and performance troubleshooting with powerful workload analysis

I find it extremely helpful to use Foglight to triage any database issues, specifically performance issues using what Foglight calls PI investigator. It is a very powerful workload analysis tool that helps me understand where bottlenecks are. It allows me to see performance issues as end users report them. It can save time and effort when doing root cause analysis. It enables me to obtain information quicker and easier compared to manually compiling it. Foglight provides us with a near-real-time activity database. It's not 100% real-time. It has less than a minute latency. It allows us to see performance issues as end-users report them. We started seeing benefits pretty much immediately. We use Foglight to display intensive databases. However, it's not something we monitor regularly. It's only something we kind of dig into as we troubleshoot and triage issues. It does help us determine potential IT help issues. When we use Foglight, we find it helps drill down holistically into potential bottlenecks. It helps us to see what is going on in the database. Foglight allows us to monitor multiple database platforms. We use, for example, Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres, Amazon Redshift, and SAP HANA. It gives us insight into our entire landscape of production workloads in near real-time. The solution saves costs when performing root cause analysis. It can save time and effort when doing root cause analysis. It allows us to obtain information quicker and easier than by manually compiling information.

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Mark Stocks

Vice President, Director Enterprise Architecture at JE Dunn Construction

Uses trusted data to support financial forecasting and automate complex calculations through daily development workflows

The best features Toad for Oracle offers are the ability to access the database objects and see them in a very simplified manner. The simplified view helps me in my work as it makes troubleshooting easier. Toad for Oracle has positively impacted our organization because our financial forecasting data set is trusted throughout the company because of the ability for us to debug and analyze the data with Toad for Oracle. This trust in the data set has affected business decisions and efficiency by creating a completely separate data department because of the value that we saw with our data because of how we were able to organize and extract data from Oracle with Toad for Oracle.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The platform is very stable."

"The PI module allows [my colleague] to identify which new indexes or modified indexes are going to make the biggest impact."

"We can visualize all the different types of DB servers that we are monitoring in a single pane of glass. It uses a 360-degree overview of the database, for each of those databases that we are monitoring. That includes what kind of resource utilization is happening and what kind of DB parameters are getting monitored, as well as the different types of DB parameters that are being offered for each database type."

"We went from basically 30% coverage of our production environment to 100% coverage."

"What I really like is the SQL PI feature, which allows us to drill down into queries and identify what is causing contention in the database. Using the SQL PI feature, I am able to drill down into the queries, see what is blocking, and try to improve it."

"Foglight's Change Tracking capabilities are another huge feature. It is wonderful to be able to do that. People don't realize the amount of information that Foglight gathers from a given server or instance. It gets down to the version of SQL, the disk array, everything that's there. Any change that's made, any upgrade to SQL, shows up on the dashboard almost immediately. You don't know how much time you save just having a tool in your back pocket that does that for you."

"The real-time activity screens are also helpful... if there is something that is running slowly, we can eliminate the database as being an issue and perhaps look at the server, network activity, or something outside of the realm of the database as being the issue."

"The ability to monitor multiple database platforms streamlines our database operations. The single pane of glass is what we were really after when we picked Foglight. We knew we wanted something that could monitor cross-platform because it does save a lot of time to use the same tool. The one thing that I like with Foglight is that we don't have to install anything locally, like agents, directly on the database servers. That was also a big seller because it simplifies things."

More Foglight for Databases pros

"The tool evaluates non-optimized queries and generates the queries in a way that is more optimal - in addition to giving us some good practices for code development."

"It is very easy to manage all of the objects."

"I haven't seen any issues with scalability. We have about 1000 people on our IT team who use the solution."

"Oracle has advanced query optimization and tuning features that help improve the performance of SQL queries."

"A quite simple feature that I have not encountered elsewhere is the "Make Code" feature. I can easily export a complex SQL statement to a programming language. This is a great timesaver as I do not have to type in all of the escape/concatenation characters just to create a SQL statement in C# or C++."

"The schema browser is the most valuable feature. The way it presents the objects in our database."

"I like that it's very flexible and helpful in query accuracy, analysis, and data visualization. I also like the move facilities available in Toad for Oracle. Overall, I think it's a fantastic product for analyzing SQL queries and managing all kinds of queries."

"Simply the best GUI software for administration is the most valuable aspect for me."

More Toad for Oracle pros

Cons

"The monitoring capabilities for Postgres should be at par with SQL Server. This is the area where we push back on our Quest representative."

"The version that I'm using is not the latest version, so there might have been some improvement, but the OS monitoring is a bit lacking, and the high-availability option is a bit complicated to set up and it doesn't work all the time."

"Foglight does have a component that allows you to look at things in real time, but it's not as friendly or as efficient in terms of responsiveness as Quest Spotlight is. Foglight might be lacking in this department."

"Quest must release a Spanish version. That's critical because not everyone speaks English in Latin America. It's an excellent product, so it's super important that they offer the application and customer service in Spanish."

"Better communication and alerts regarding the transaction logs getting full would also be beneficial. What I have noticed is that if the log files on the SQL server are full, we cannot log in and have to do some cleanup on the Foglight DB. It would be good if they could monitor that and alert us when it is getting too full."

"The data model needs improvement when it comes to creating custom reports. That is an area where it needs a bit of improvement. Foglight gathers a lot of information around our databases as part of its monitoring. While I know all this information is in there, trying to pull the metric we want out for custom reports is sometimes hard to find. One nice thing about Foglight is that you can create custom dashboards, which you can easily convert to reports. We would be doing a lot more of that if it weren't for the challenging data model."

"One thing that I would like, and it's probably something that I could set up internally, is something other than a dashboard which I have to look at to know that a server is down. I'd like bells and whistles to go off... If I look at the dashboard I know there's a server down. But if I'm not looking at it, if I'm looking at some other problem, I want to know about it. You can do that, you can use SMSs and alerts to your phone, and I could set it up to handle that, but it would be nice if, out-of-the-box, Foglight did that."

"The system is not that stable. We have been facing a lot of issues. We built a new store environment of Foglight, an environment for monitoring the Lowe's store servers, which are all Db2 servers. The objective is to monitor 800 Db2 servers in each Foglight instance. Up to 150 Db2 servers, the environment was working fine. The moment it crossed 150 or 160, we started having a lot of stability issues."

More Foglight for Databases cons

"Sometimes it works in some areas, but in others, it doesn't. Like when you copy, you find that it's blank and doesn't copy anything. So, there are some objects that do copy, and sometimes they don't."

"Once in a while, I may encounter a memory exception and have to abort the application. On a few occasions, the file that stores the saved connections for the New Connection window will become corrupt and I will lose all of my saved connections. I am not sure if that is a Windows or TOAD issue, but it has happened to all of my developers at some point or another."

"Toad for Oracle does not have a particular resolution within the application."

"There may be an issue with processing limitations but this cannot be confirmed as a problem with the product or with the newest releases."

"Scalability falls short for my organization because from a scalability perspective, the software sometimes seems bloated when installing it on a new machine, and it would be nice if we could reduce the amount of features we are actually installing and keep it streamlined for our current needs."

"The way the dialog boxes appear can be improved."

"There should also be a better "cancel query" option as sometimes one cancels a query, but then it still might run for a long time, and then one has to crash Toad in order to cancel the query."

"It would be better if they had an online option allowing me to connect from anywhere on any device. Sometimes I face some errors, depending on the network and setup. It's not a big issue."

More Toad for Oracle cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven instances and nearly 5 million users. If Quest Foglight could reduce its prices for the clients that have been with it for a long time, we would be able to have more instances."

"The price is worth it, if you have the time to go through the information."

"This is like the "Cadillac" of performance monitoring software. It's not cheap... I am currently with a company that I was able to convince that the product is worth the cost."

"Pricing is very reasonable. We were able to construct a pretty easy contract with Quest, who were very easy to work with and very amenable to what we are trying to do. It worked out well for us."

"Compared to the other tools on the market, Foglight is okay in terms of pricing and licensing."

"It is cost-effective. With our EA, it is really based on the scale of our database environment. We found the Quest team to be reasonable and flexible when it comes to pricing and scaling of licenses."

"There are paid and free-for-use versions of the product."

"Toad for Oracle has a relatively high cost compared to other similar tools."

"The pricing is okay, it's reasonable."

"In my opinion, this solution is a little expensive, but I understand that good programs cost more money."

"The product's pricing is just right because if it were slightly higher, it would not have been as widely adopted as it currently is in our organization."

"My advice is to try to use the three-year maintenance agreement if possible."

"I would rate it six, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"The professional edition is about $1,000 AUD ($700 USD) and the developer version is about twice that much."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Foglight for Databases?

The pricing is palatable. We've already done one renewal and we are in our second contract. We're happy thus far.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Quest Foglight for Databases?

It would be amazing if they could enable the "Performance Investigator" functionality across all database platforms. I've been talking to their product development team about enhancements that I wo...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Quest Foglight for Databases?

I primarily use the solution for database monitoring, specifically for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres, SAP HANA, and AWS Redshift.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Toad for Oracle?

The licensing cost for Toad for Oracle is relatively high, with their license and DPA suite totaling around five thousand dollars.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Toad for Oracle?

Toad for Oracle can be improved by working with Microsoft Fabric.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Toad for Oracle?

My main use case for Toad for Oracle is accessing data in Oracle and building PL/SQL database objects, packages, procedures, and functions. A quick specific example of how I use Toad for Oracle in ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Spotlight vs Foglight for Databases

Compared 22% of the time

SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer vs Foglight for Databases

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle Enterprise Manager vs Foglight for Databases

Compared 13% of the time

Redgate SQL Toolbelt Essentials vs Foglight for Databases

Compared 9% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs Foglight for Databases

Compared 6% of the time

More Foglight for Databases Competitors

DbVisualizer vs Toad for Oracle

Compared 13% of the time

Redgate SQL Toolbelt Essentials vs Toad for Oracle

Compared 13% of the time

Toad Edge vs Toad for Oracle

Compared 12% of the time

Toad Data Modeler vs Toad for Oracle

Compared 10% of the time

Spotlight vs Toad for Oracle

Compared 8% of the time

More Toad for Oracle Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases

February 2026

Download Foglight for Databases product report

Buyer's Guide

Toad for Oracle

January 2026

Download Toad for Oracle product report

Overview

Foglight for Databases offers comprehensive monitoring with real-time activity screens and adaptive baselines. It provides a 360-degree overview and efficient UI, requiring no custom scripts, aiding in proactive issue identification and resolution before impacting end users.

Foglight for Databases is a robust tool for monitoring across multiple platforms, including SQL and Oracle. It provides features like the "Morning Coffee" dashboard and SQL Performance Investigator, enabling effective workload analysis and historical investigation. Despite some challenges with sluggish performance on large data volumes and excessive non-critical alerts, it remains a preferred choice for its ability to support proactive management and resource planning. Users appreciate its centralized view of extensive database systems, enabling swift detection and resolution of issues in real-time.

What are the key features?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Provides cross-platform real-time monitoring, ensuring effective database management.
Adaptive Baselines: Adjusts to various workloads, enhancing monitoring accuracy.
SQL Performance Investigator: Offers detailed workload analysis without server impact.
Proactive Alerts: Delivers timely notifications, aiding in immediate issue resolution.
Efficient UI: Streamlines user interaction, minimizing the need for custom scripts.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Time Saving: Reduces time in root cause analysis, enhancing productivity.
Proactive Management: Detects issues before they affect end users, minimizing downtime.
Resource Planning: Aids in effective allocation planning for enterprise and cloud platforms.

Foglight is extensively implemented in industries managing extensive database systems, handling numerous servers to ensure availability and performance. It assists businesses in resolving blocking and locking deadlocks, crucial for maintaining smooth operations in production and development environments.

Quest Software

With Toad for Oracle, you'll reduce costs and risks by easily ensuring the health and performance of your Oracle Cloud Platform and on-premises databases. ... On the operations side, you can automate administration tasks and proactively manage your databases while embracing performance optimization and risk mitigation.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

CommitDBA

intel, ebay, uber, mars, microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases vs. Toad for Oracle

February 2026

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